Well put, Lee. Relations between Japan and its Northeast Asian neighbors can get. . . well, unpleasant to say the least. Now that Japanese pop culture items, such as music, movies, and comics are freely and legally available in South Korea, there appears to be some rapprochement in what is still mostly a one-way rivalry. The politics of China’s view of Japan are a bit more complicated.
I agree that Japan gets of lightly by comparison. Perhaps fortunately, perhaps unfortunately, Japan’s crimes were not deeply looked into, and were often covered up by the American Occupation, to the great chagrin of Japanese leftists and those who blamed the Japanese government for the war.
On the other hand, Japanese relocation camps housed mostly American citizens and there were no convictions for treason, aiding and abetting the JIA, or terrorist-lie actions. The US absolutely should have apologized, as it did. It’s a bit late now, but reparations to survivors would be very much in order.
